1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to websites, and more specifically to techniques to increase the security and privacy of personal information submitted through websites.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The Internet is used by millions to shop for information or to purchase goods and services. The technological advances in using the Internet in ecommerce has included the ability of companies to collect and store information about the consumers that visit a company's website. The Internet provides a commercial relationship between businesses and their respective consumers. As part of that relationship between a business that offers goods or services on the Internet, a consumer may be required to submit their email address or other personal information. Many consumers have a lack of confidence in the ability of the website to maintain their personal information private once submitted. This apprehension has resulted in lost ecommerce sales.
As the Internet was becoming more popular to use, companies would track emails and simply log the results into marketing databases. This led to the sharing and selling of consumer information without the knowledge or consent of the consumers or unauthorized persons gaining access to such marketing databases.
Encryption was one of the first techniques designed to maintain the security and privacy of consumer information. This helped to impede computer hackers from the unauthorized retrieval and access to consumer information or to otherwise intercept communications in transit. An example of encryption is SSL Secure websites. SSL stands for “Secure Sockets Layer”. It is a protocol designed to enable applications to transmit information back and forth securely. Applications that use this protocol inherently know how to give and receive encryption keys with other applications, as well as how to encrypt and decrypt data sent between the two.
Some applications that are configured to run SSL include web browsers like Internet Explorer and Netscape, email programs like GroupWise, Outlook, and Outlook Express, SFTP (secure file transfer protocol) programs, etc. These programs are automatically able to receive SSL connections. However, SSL does not consider the internal accessibility of a database and the privacy or unauthorized sharing of consumer information once submitted to a website.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art are techniques for improving the security of personal information submitted through websites that overcomes the limitations of prior art techniques and that is a significant contribution to the advancement of the security and privacy of consumers information.
However, in view of the prior art at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the pertinent art how the identified needs could be fulfilled.